O, how much more doth beauty beateous seem...
Sonnet 54O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give. The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem For that sweet odour which doth in it live. The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye As the perfumed tincture of the roses, Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly When summer's breath their masked buds discloses: But, for their virtue only is their show, They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade, Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so; Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made: And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth. Listen to the recording!Free sample available for this sonnet! Click HERE
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Truth makes beauty even lovelier.
Roses look great, but we value them even more for their perfume. Canker roses look just as good as the wholesome ones before they open up, their colours are just the same. But because they only look good from the outside [and are rotten within], they don’t get used for perfume making, and die unremembered.
This isn’t the case for sweet-smelling roses. Out of their petals we make exquisite perfumes. You’re like that. When the beauty of your youth has faded, my verse will have made a lasting perfume of it.